Oh, Donna…
Welcome back to Great Stuff’s Reader Feedback!
As many of you already know, today is all about you the Great Stuff reader … or as we like to call you, the Great Ones. Pretty catchy, huh? Thought that up all by myself.
Anyway, today we have questions and rants from David G. on Extended Stay America (Nasdaq: STAY), Gerald S. on electric vehicle (EV) stocks and “RFY2025” on Xilinx.
RFY2025, is that your gamertag or something? Kids these days and their crazy names … am I right?
Now, if you wondered how to get your question, rant or snide remark featured in Great Stuff, all you have to do is email us at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com. It’s that simple.
And … if you want to all but guarantee you make next week’s pre-Christmas edition, send us your favorite Christmas meme.
Bonus points if it’s stock market related, somehow. Now, fly like winged monkeys and find us Christmas stock memes! (But don’t forget to send them to us here: GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.)
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for … well, one of you anyway. Here’s today’s featured Great Stuff Reader Feedback question:
“I was just a waitress in a hotel bar; that much is true. But even then, I knew I’d find a better place with or without you…”
So, there was this little pharma company that began working on a drug to regrow inner ear hairs — and not the kind you clip, mind you, but the ones you want to keep — the kind you kill when you blast out your eardrums working in music venues for years on end.
And yes, the ringing 24/7 tinnitus would also go away with this miracle drug as well. You guessed it: I bought 1,000 shares and proceeded to watch it fall “down, down, down in a ring of fire…”
Until I woke up at 10 a.m., casually checked my TD account, and lo and behold, I was up over five grand. My $895 investment in EARS market value was over five grand. I was frantic. Do I sell it? A little, a lot?!!
At that precise moment, my other half had a Zoom call, and our 112-pound silver lab started zooming around the loft barking (enough to cause more hearing loss) because his favorite UPS guy who feeds him massive amounts of treats had arrived.
When all was said and done, i.e. the dog was full, and the better half felt like he was being heard and his Zoom call completed, EARS’ 15 minutes of fame had passed. Shares at $6.30 high were rapidly descending to the $3’s. I decided to investigate to see what was going on (my vision being better than my hearing).
Then I learn Auris Medical shares are trading lower after the company priced an $8 million offering at $4 per share, and Auris Medical Holding failed to meet Nasdaq continued listing requirements.
I am at a loss, literally. Stock in the $2’s. What to do? I mean, I am still holding out on my NKLA, but I promise to hear what you have to say this time!
— Donna (the dog & his best friend call me Scout:)
Oh Donna … oh Donna …
I have a reader. Donna is her name. Since her stocks fell, she’s never been the same.
I know you opened with Human League (much appreciated), but I couldn’t pass up the Ritchie Valens reference. I bet you get that a lot. Anyway…
I don’t think you’re completely screwed on Auris Medical (Nasdaq: EARS).
However, if you bought in during that December 1 rally, you’ll need a lot of patience to recoup your losses. If you bought before December 1, then you should still be sitting on a gain, right?
Yes, the company sold new stock to secure funding. Companies do that all the time, especially biotechs. The consequences can be delisting, if the stock is diluted enough to no longer meet that exchange’s criteria.
This is normal for small-cap companies this tiny. Auris Medical’s market cap is only $24.54 million! People win more than that in the lottery. Crazy.
However, Auris appears to be on to something big. If that Phase 3 trial for Keyzilen (AM-101) for acute tinnitus shows promising results, EARS is gonna pop. Unfortunately, that trial has gone on since last year, and I can’t find any news on when Auris expects to conclude it or release findings.
So, as Axl Rose once crooned … just a little patience, yeaah.
I won’t bang a drum for Auris. I won’t tell you to keep holding your EARS … or to sell it. It’s not me. It’s the SEC. So, that’s a decision you’ll have to make on your own based on your risk tolerance.
I will tell you that I used to work for a small-cap biotech, financial newsletter back in the day, and I know firsthand just how volatile these stocks can be. So much so that you might as well trade options. (Don’t trade options without help, Donna.)
That said, the fact that you still hold Nikola (Nasdaq: NKLA) gives me concerns that you’re not following the two key rules to trading:
- Know Your Target Goal: Before you trade. Before you even think about hitting that buy button on your TD account, you need to set a target gain for the trade. Is it 25%? 50%? 100%? Research the investment, make a decision and stick to it. Don’t get greedy. Trust your research.
- Know Your Loss Limit: Before you trade, decide how much you’re willing to lose. No one likes to think about this, but losses happen. Prepare for this by setting a stop loss from the get-go. Then, if you see gains, set a trailing stop loss to preserve your gains. Make those stop losses reasonable so that you don’t get shaken out of the trade early, but still … set one!
I hope that helps, Donna. Thank you for writing in, and good luck with EARS and NKLA!
Thank you to every one of you who wrote in these past few weeks! Though we might not get to every last memo in the mailbag today, we appreciate (and read) every single email … even the endlessly spawning spam.
So, why don’t you make sure your voice is heard right here, right now?
GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com is the one-stop shop for all rants, raves and wintertime memes — don’t forget those too!
Don’t feel like writing in? You get one pass — just this once, but that’s it! Why not check out our Poll of the Week instead?
We’ve talked up streaming recently with the hubbub surrounding Roku (Nasdaq: ROKU), but yesterday, we asked how you stream. Click here to answer our poll! I see you holding down the fort over at Tivo, TK. There’s always one of you touting the service that simply will not die.
Now to dive right into your emails.
Lowcountry High Times
Hey Joe, whaddaya know? Your note on Extended Stay America’s decent financial picture is one that I can also confirm.
At least in our area (near Hilton Head & Savannah), the local Extended Stay America has a LOT of construction workers staying there — along with the Damn Yankees who are fleeing the Great White North (both the snow and the pandemic restrictions) … and for whom the construction workers are building mucho new homes.
It’s definitely a housing boom market here in the Lowcountry of SC!
— David G.
You mean to tell me that Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw and Co. were lurking ‘round town, and you didn’t invite Great Stuff? C’mon, David.
Thanks for tuning in to our breakdown of Extended Stay America. You’re not the only one who wrote in with a similar take on the long-term hotelier either. Though, before you go out and scoop up STAY, just remember the reason we highlighted Extended Stay to begin with: the company’s relative resilience.
Relative resilience is great … but doesn’t necessarily equate to gains — especially when travel stock investors are busy looking at the new shininess with the Airbnb IPO. STAY could keep your portfolio grounded … but it probably won’t take you high enough.
So, where you going now? If you’re looking for other stocks that are slightly adjacent to the housing explosion, you might as well look for an already-rallying business like Sherry here mentions…
What’s Up, DOCU?
First-time writer, so be kind to me.
DocuSign: I agree this is a trend that is here to stay.
I actually sold my Dad’s house from his estate remotely (he lived in a different state), and it was so simple and easy to sign electronically. It was one of the easiest things I had to do as executor. Plus, we use it at my office all the time — much easier and faster than trying to get people there in person to sign with pen and ink.
Cryptocurrencies: What’s up here?
I’ve heard rumors that U.S. banks may be able to hold cryptos starting mid-December. Do you know if this is true and what it means for crypto investors? And do you ever see cryptos replacing cash? That seems so sci-fi to me, but maybe I’m just old school.
Love all your irreverent music references! Keep it up.
— Sherry N.
Sherry! I’ll spare you the irreverent Frankie Valli or Steve Perry references and get right to it: We don’t chat up cryptos much in Great Stuff, but if you out there haven’t wondered how to get in on it yet, stop sleepin’! (You should’ve been gone!)
Of course … I won’t pretend to be the end-all Oz behind the crypto curtain. Here at Banyan Hill, everyone knows that my friend Ian King is the, well, Crypto King. He’s been investing in cryptocurrencies since Bitcoin was trading for just $100, back in 2013…
And on December 17, he’s presenting a special event called “Next Wave Crypto Fortunes.” (It’s free, by the way!) Click here to reserve your spot now and learn more.
Oh, Sherry our love for cryptos holds on! Holds on! Remember to click that link and tune in.
Dipped in, Chipped out
Great Stuff!
I have XLNX. Should I have sold it at $151? Is there any reason to hold this?
— RFY2025
Thanks for the question, RFY2025! (If that is your real name.) Is it worth holding XLNX?
Well … we don’t know when you got in or what your profits look like. Either way, Xilinx isn’t going anywhere — it was bought out by Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD).
This goes down one of two ways:
If AMD’s deal with Xilinx falls through or is blocked, the stock would fall. Obviously, you shoulda coulda sold already. Otherwise, the deal will finalize, and you’ll get 1.7234 shares of AMD for every XLNX share.
The question is then: Do you want to cash out now and head to new pastures? Or hold on to your trade for AMD shares? Great Stuff Picks recommended AMD a while back, and it’s been on a tear that shows no signs of stopping … so I know what I’d do, but I’m clearly biased.
No Preambles
What is the best EV Battery stock to buy that is public?
— Gerald S.
Right to the point, huh, Gerald? Concise questions need even more abrupt answers, so here you go.
Battery stocks. Best ones. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Say no more! Click here if it wasn’t obvious.
Now, if you want to see your name up here in the Reader Feedback spotlight, you gotta write to us first, silly! If you have more to share with us here — or if there’s a stock or sector you want to see covered specifically — send it our way!
GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com. Sear it into your subconscious. Then, shoot us a message. We’ll catch up with you in the next installment of Reader Feedback.
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Until next time, be Great!
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff
